Contact Information: For Further Information Please Contact: Nicole Panas GenArts, Inc. T: 617-492-2888 E: nicole@genarts.com Ashley Wilkinson BOCA Communications T: 415.738.7718 x4 E: ashley@bocacommunications.com
GenArts and The Foundry Announce Strategic Alliance
Industry Leaders Collaborate to Enhance Nuke Market Growth
| Source: GenArts, Inc.
LONDON and CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - February 16, 2010) - GenArts, Inc., the premier provider of
specialized visual effects software for the film, television and video
industries, and The Foundry, the
world-leading visual effects software developer, today announced they have
entered into a broad strategic alliance. Under the terms of the agreement,
GenArts will acquire The Foundry's Tinder and Tinderbox plug-ins business
and the two companies will enter into an arrangement to collaborate closely
to expand the capabilities of the Nuke platform.
A well-established suite with a loyal customer following, Tinder and
Tinderbox have been stalwarts in the visual effects plug-ins market for
many years. GenArts will immediately assume all development, sales,
marketing and customer support of Tinder and Tinderbox as they work to
breathe new life into the venerable Tinder brand.
The strategic alliance allows the development teams from The Foundry and
GenArts to work closely together to fully maximize the functionality of
their future products. This collaboration opens the door to more effective
delivery of new technology as the host platform and plug-in development can
be more synchronized.
"Both GenArts and The Foundry deliver technologies that are essential to
the compositing pipeline at Method," said Janelle Croshaw, of Method
Studios. "Host platform development is often independent from the features
and schedules of plug-in development. We're very pleased to see that
GenArts and The Foundry understand that the way we use their products is
extremely intertwined. This collaboration allows us to provide more
seamless solutions to clients as we continue to deliver visual effects that
push the limits of our audience's imagination."
As part of the alliance, GenArts will become the flagship partner in The
Foundry's new third-party partner program for Nuke. GenArts will have an
exclusive co-marketing relationship with The Foundry as a provider of
visual effects plug-ins for Nuke and Nuke customers will have the option to
install trial versions of GenArts plug-ins on Initial installation.
"The Foundry is very pleased to have come to this new arrangement with
GenArts," said Bill Collis, CEO, The Foundry. "We believe that it's in the
best interest of our customers for Tinder to be looked after by GenArts,
while The Foundry concentrates on developing complex, problem-solving,
image-processing plug-ins including further work on its award-winning
Furnace and Ocula toolsets and new products based on our 3D scene
technology. We hope our new third party program, launched today, with
GenArts as our first provider, will bring a variety of plug-ins to the
attention of Nuke users enabling them to do even more within the platform."
"GenArts' portfolio enjoys an unquestioned pedigree as the go-to tools in
the arsenal of the world's best visual effects artists and editors," said
Katherine Hays, CEO of GenArts. "Our alliance with The Foundry presents a
unique opportunity to deliver value to Nuke users as the platform continues
to gain momentum. Customers across the film, broadcast and commercial
industries tell us that they highly value the benefits of standardizing
their compositing pipeline on a common toolset from a trusted partner. The
GenArts portfolio including Sapphire™, Monsters™, Raptors™,
wondertouch™ and now Tinder offers the most comprehensive suite of
visual effects in the industry for our current and future customers. This
strategic alliance with the Foundry further supports Nuke's growth into
markets where GenArts software is a must-have."
For additional information, please refer to our FAQ at
http://genarts.com/aboutus/newsmedia/press/genarts-foundry-strategic-alliance-faq.
About GenArts
GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider
of specialized digital visual effects for the film, broadcast and video
industries. The GenArts Sapphire™, Monsters™ and Raptors™
portfolio equips digital artists with a collection of state-of-the-art image processing and
synthesis effects such as glows, light rays, lens flares, lightning,
film damage, fire and fluid effects. The effects seamlessly integrate as
software plug-ins into leading editing and compositing systems from Adobe,
Apple, Avid, Autodesk, Assimilate, Eyeon, FilmLight, The Foundry, Quantel
and SGO.
In November 2009 GenArts acquired wondertouch, an award-winning
software developer specializing in particle effects. Their flagship
product, particleIllusion™, is
considered one of the most popular solutions for particle effects creation,
enabling artists to create natural effects such as smoke, fire, sparkles,
fireworks and countless abstract effects. GenArts was founded in 1996 in
Cambridge, Mass. www.genarts.com.
About The Foundry
The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image
processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video
post-production. The Foundry has a well-established client base that
includes leading visual effects facilities worldwide, such as Warner Bros.,
The Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures
Imageworks and Digital Domain. It is at the cutting edge of software
development, marketing and sales for visual effects compositing. In June
2009, The Foundry announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led
by Advent Venture Partners. Advent backed The Foundry's management team,
led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders.
The Foundry is highly profitable and has more than doubled in size in the
past two years.
The Foundry's products support a wide range of award-winning host platforms
including After Effects, Autodesk® Media and Entertainment Systems, Avid
DS, Nuke, Shake and Final Cut Pro. In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry's development
team for the Furnace image processing suite -- and the company now holds
two products with AMPAS Sci-Tech Award® winning technology including
high-end compositing system Nuke.
The Foundry is headquartered in London, and has offices in Los Angeles. For
more information please visit: www.thefoundry.co.uk
© The Foundry, its logo and product names are registered trademarks in
the UK, USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other trademarks
contained herein are the property of their respective owners.